Successful start for Coach Bill

Russia wins Karjala; Vujtek’s Slovaks succeed in Munich

Last weekend was the start into a series of tournaments and exhibition games for many national teams. For some coaches it was the first opportunity to meet their teams and introduce their philosophies.

The prime event was the Karjala Tournament in Helsinki, Finland. It was Finland’s first home event, some months before the country will be co-hosting the 2012 IIHF Ice Hockey World Championship with Sweden, but it was also the first test for Europe’s four most prestigious national teams.

It was a well-balanced tournament in Helsinki’s Hartwall Arena, but one team was outstanding. Russia won all three games to claim the first tournament win of the 2011/2012 Euro Hockey Tour.

The Russians started off with a 2-1 victory in a shootout against host Finland. Alexander Radulov for Russia and Sami Vatanen for Finland scored in regulation time while Yevgeni Kuznetsov and Radulov scored the only two goals in the shootout. Konstantin Barulin had a stellar performance, saving 33 out of 34 shots on goal, same as Karri Rämö, who had 29 saves.

The Radulov Show continued in a 4-1 victory against Sweden, where the Salavat Yulayev Ufa forward contributed with two goals and an assist. The Russians sealed first place in a 2-1 win against the Czechs with goals from Radulov and Kuznetsov.

Five months before hosting the Worlds as the reigning champion, Finland finished its home tournament in second place. The Lions blanked the Czech Republic 4-0 with two goals from Jarkko Immonen, but lost their last game to archrival Sweden, 4-3. Martin Thörnberg found the net twice for Tre Kronor, scoring the 2-1 goal and the 4-1 game-winner.

Barulin (best goalkeeper) and Ilya Nikulin (best defenceman) won awards for Russia while Immonen was named best forward. He notched five scoring points (3+2), same as Radulov (4+1), who won the scoring race.

It was a brilliant debut for Russia’s new head coach Zinetula Bilyaletdinov and his rejuvenated team. While giving some veterans a break, it was the chance for some late-20s like captain Nikulin and Radulov to step up. From the younger players it was the youngest, 19-year-old Kuznetsov, who impressed most, using his limited ice time for two goals.

In the interview zone “oborona”, defence, was one of the most heard words after Russian games. Inspired by the gold-winning Finns last spring in Bratislava, Bilyaletdinov wanted to reshape the defence, which is often seen as chink of any Russian selection. He focused more on keeping opponents away from the net than his predecessor Vyacheslav Bykov.

The Karjala Tournament revealed a glimpse on what might come under the reign of “Coach Bill”. However, the next step will not be an easy one as he’ll need to include numerous NHL and KHL stars into his game plan, one that might look unconventional for Russian standards. The first results will be seen next May when the Russian national team travels to Stockholm for the 2012 Worlds, while the big picture will be the 2014 Sochi Olympics.

Bilyaletdinov was not the only coach who led his national team for the first time. Same as the Russian in Helsinki, Czech coach Vladimir Vujtek succeeded with the Slovak national team at the Deutschland Cup in Munich.

Marcel Hossa and Michel Miklik each scored three goals. While the name Hossa is familiar to international hockey fans, Miklik has never played in an IIHF-sanction tournament before. He has mostly played for Kosice in the Slovak Extraliga in the last few years.

Peter Hamerlik had a stellar performance in the Slovak net, deflecting 65 out of 66 shots on his goal.

“We had an excellent atmosphere,” Vujtek said after the tournament and three wins against a Team USA comprised mostly of players in the German league (2-0), against Germany (6-3) and Switzerland (2-1). “I believe that the atmosphere will be taken over to the next tournament and to those players who were not on the team now. We were a strong team. Nobody behaved like a star. We all worked on our common goal.”

The next big step is the Worlds in Finland. After a disappointing 10th-place finish on home ice in Bratislava, the Slovaks moved down to 10th place in the World Ranking and coach Glen Hanlon was dismissed. Now they need a strong performance in Helsinki to climb up one place to get a bye for the 2014 Olympics.

Germany finished in second place with another new coach behind the bench in Jakob Kölliker, the long-time assistant coach of Ralph Krueger with the Swiss national team and former head coach of the Swiss U20 national team.

Of all opponents it was Switzerland which played Germany for Kölliker’s debut on the other side, but his team succeeded with a come-from-behind victory, 4-2. After losing to Slovakia, the Germans ended their home event with a 3-1 win against the U.S., coached by Don Waddell with former NHL veteran Chris Chelios as one of the assistant coaches. The four-time Olympian had ended his impressive playing career one year ago as a 48-year-old with the NHL’s Atlanta Thrashers and the AHL’s Chicago Wolves.

In the third tier of Europe’s various tournaments, the European Ice Hockey Challenge, Italy, Poland and Russia’s B-team ended up as winners of the three events.

Italy, promoted back to the top division, won the tournament in Miskolc, Hungary. It began with a 3-2 win against neighbouring Austria, and same as last spring in the deciding game for promotion, the Azzurri overcame Hungary on the opponent’s ice in overtime, 3-2, and they clinched the tournament win in another highly contested game against Japan.

The Japanese national team played in its first event after it had to cancel its trip to the World Championship Division I due to the natural disaster in Japan, and it did well, defeating both Hungary (5-3) and Austria (5-1).

Canadian-born Aaron Keller opened the scoring against Italy with 3:35 left in the second period, but Patrick Iaonne tied it up 92 seconds later and the Italians eventually succeeded in the shootout.

Poland won its three-team tournament in Sanok with clear victories against Romania (9-0) and the Netherlands (5-1) – two opponents who will come back to Poland for the World Championship Division I Group B – while Russia B succeeded in Gomel, Belarus.

The Russians easily defeated Denmark (5-0), Belarus (4-1) and Slovenia (3-0). Denmark bounced back after the opening loss and claimed second place after winning against Slovenia and Belarus while Slovenia came third.

It was a cold start for Finnish coach Kari Heikkilä with the Belarusian team. He tested several new players, but saw his team lose every game with a 3-18 goal record.

Sweden and Switzerland succeed with U20 teams

In the last big test before the 2012 IIHF Ice Hockey U20 World Championship in Calgary and Edmonton, Sweden won a tournament that was played in Vaasa and other Finnish cities.

Before Russia’s surprising gold medal win in Buffalo last year, Sweden had been known as the best European team in the U20 category and the Swedes confirmed this position at the tournament in Finland, although it needs to be said that Russia split its prospects into two squads, with the other touring through Canada to play All-Star Teams from the OHL, QMJHL and WHL.

Sweden defeated the Czech Republic 4-2 and Russia 4-3 in a shootout before facing archrival Finland, which had been undefeated as well. The deciding game reminded a bit of the World Championship gold medal game between the men’s teams in Bratislava, just with reversed roles as Sweden shut down the Finns 5-0.

Filip Forsberg scored two of his four goals in the event against the host while Finland’s Markus Granlund (1+6), the younger brother of wunderkind Mikael, and Teemu Pulkkinen (4+2) occupied the first two spots in the scoring stats.

Russia claimed third place behind Finland while the Czech Republic remained without points.

Switzerland succeeded in another Four Nations in Puchov, Slovakia, winning its games against Norway (4-1), Slovakia (5-3) and Germany (5-1).

The two Division I nations Germany with four and Norway with three points followed behind while Slovakia finished on the bottom with two points. Slovakia, same as Switzerland, will play at the World Juniors next month in Canada while Germany and Norway are the top-seeded teams in the battle for promotion.

Two other World Juniors participants competed in another four-team event in Lida, Belarus. Latvia finished the event with seven points, same as Belarus, but the Belarusians ended on top after winning the head-to-head game 3-2 in overtime. Denmark didn’t perform as well, losing to both Belarus and Latvia, and to third-placed Austria.

U18 teams played in several events including the World Junior A Challenge in Langley, British Columbia, with two Canadian U20 selections with players from outside the CHL and an American selection of players from the USHL. Canada West took gold with a 4-2 victory against Canada East while the United States took bronze in a 4-0 win against the Swedish U18 national team. Russia’s U18 national team claimed fifth place against the Czech U19 team.

USA Hockey’s U18 squad from the National Team Development Program won a Four Nations in Monthey, Switzerland, with a 3-0 record before Finland, Switzerland and another Swedish U18 selection.

The November break also served as a prep for the inaugural Winter Youth Olympic Games in January in Innsbruck, Austria. While most girls will come from the women’s U18 national teams that played in some events, the boys’ teams will consist of players born in 1996.

The host nation Austria had its test with a three-team tournament in Innsbruck where its team succeeded with wins against U16 teams from Italy (4-2) and France (5-2).

Russia’s U16 national team was successful as well, winning a four-team tournament in Minsk ahead of the Belarusian U17 team, Slovenia’s U18 team and the Slovak U16 team.